AMC Theater In Downtown Kalamazoo Set To Reopen

Well this is certainly a good sign.  I was one of those who speculated that theaters might not come back due to the financial  success of films recently on streams.  Add to the fact that movie theaters weren't exactly packing them in over the past couple of years.

Perhaps the quarantine will have an added benefit where people decide they'd rather NOT stay home and watch a movie.  I think we can all agree that going to the movies has that certain something that adds to the experience.

AMC Theaters announced yesterday that they will be reopening almost all of there 1,000 locations around the country for the July release of "Tenent" and the July 24th release of the much anticipated "Mulan".

Here, though, is where where it gets a little dicey.  They haven't said anything about social distancing  and other Coronavirus protocol; although we should expect something similar to other retail businesses.

But the real test is one that we've been talking about as long as we've been talking about reopening.  Will the public feel comfortable sitting together with many other people?

Personally, I think there are some advantages and disadvantages.  The advantage is the modern seating with big chairs which allow for natural spacing.  The disadvantage is the number of seats in each theater which have decreased.  In order to distance correctly and adhere to a reduced capacity may make things difficult to execute.

Movie theaters like concert venues were one of the first to close creating tremendous loses.  In the first quarter alone AMC Theaters lost nearly $2 billion dollars which makes a successful reopening absolutely critical to their survival.